Witnesses have reported that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was a regular visitor to the LGBTI venue where he killed 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
Ty Smith, a regular patron at Pulse nightclub, that Mateen, 29, was often seen drinking there alone.
"Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," he said.
Pulse patron Chris Callen also confirmed he had seen Mateen at the venue before.
"I’ve seen him a couple of time at Pulse," he told the . "A couple of other people that I’ve spoken with, including an-ex security guard, have actually witnessed this guy at Pulse many times before."
Orlando Police have not provided comment on any of these accounts.
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Kevin West, another regular at the Pulse nightclub, he had messaged Mateen using the gay dating app Jack’d over the course of a year.
Mr West never met Mateen in person but claimed to have seen him the night of the shooting when he dropped a friend off at the nightclub about 1am.
“He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,'" and nodded his head, Mr West . "I could tell by the eyes."
Mr West has since handed his phone over to the FBI.
A former classmate of Mateen's 2006 police academy class that he believed Mateen was gay, and said he had asked him out.
"We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer," the man said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Ex wife addresses speculation
Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, was asked by CNN about the accounts and said that her ex-husband had enjoyed going nightclubbing.
“When we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past - that was recent at that time - and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife," she said.
"So, I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about."
Meanwhile the shooter's father, Seddique Mateen, denied the rumours.
"It's not true," he said. "Why, if he is gay, would he do this?".
"If it was true I would say yes, if it's not true I say it's not true."
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Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman of the city's Islamic Center said he knew Mateen and his family since the shooter was a boy and never saw any signs of violence in him. He said the Orlando attack "was totally unexpected."
But one colleague at the security contractor G4S, his most recent employer, remembered the son of Afghan immigrants as an angry, profane co-worker who used slurs and threatened violence.
Daniel Gilroy said Mateen started badgering him and sending dozens of text messages to him daily, and that he reported Mateen's behaviour to his bosses.
"I kind of feel a little guilty that I didn't fight harder," Gilroy said. "If I didn't walk away and I fought, then maybe 50
people would still be alive today."
Gilroy told multiple news outlets that Mateen routinely used slurs for gay people, blacks, Jews and women.
"He talked about killing people all the time," Gilroy told The New York Times. Of the massacre, Gilroy said, "I saw it coming."
In a statement, Mateen's employer G4S said he had been subject to a detailed screening when he was recruited in 2007 and was re-screened in 2013 "with no adverse findings."
- With AAP
